Bactrim & Olive Leaf Interaction

Both Bactrim and olive leaf are used to combat bacterial infections, but combining them might not be a good idea -- especially if you take other medications. You also may take olive leaf for its antioxidants or for its purported, albeit unproven, benefits in reducing inflammation, lowering your blood pressure, treating diabetes or preventing or treating cancer, notes Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Consult your doctor about potential interactions before using Bactrim and olive leaf at the same time.

Identification

Bactrim is the name brand for co-trimoxazole, a combination of trimethoprim and the sulfa drug sulfamethoxazole. Bactrim is used to eliminate bacteria that cause pneumonia and other infections including urinary tract, intestinal and ear infections. Your doctor also may prescribe it to treat traveler's diarrhea. Olive leaf also appears to have antimicrobial activity against bacteria, according to an April 2003 "Mycoses" study. Both olive leaves and olive leaf extract are used in traditional medicine to treat infections.

Diabetes Medicine

Drug interactions for olive leaf are not well documented, according to Drugs.com. However, both olive leaf and Bactrim are contraindicated with diabetes medicine. Olive leaf may interact with diabetes medicines by raising risk of hypoglycemia, or blood sugar levels that fall too low. Bactrim also raises the risk for hypoglycemia because it interferes with metabolism of such drugs, which may result in increased effects of the drugs. Theoretically, combining olive leaf and Bactrim further magnifies risk for hypoglycemia.

Other Interactions

Olive leaf also may interact with blood-pressure medicines by raising risk for hypotension, or blood pressure that falls too low. It also may affect your thyroid-stimulating hormone levels and have diuretic effects. Bactrim can interact with thiazide diuretics, used to treat high blood pressure by decreasing blood volume, by causing low blood platelet counts. Bactrim also interacts with the drug procainamide used to treat cardiac arrhythmias, the congestive heart failure drug digoxin, blood-thinning medications, anticonvulsants, the pneumonia drug atovaquone, contraceptives, bone marrow depressants, the transplant drug cyclosporine, the skin infection drug dapsone, tricyclic antidepressants, the tuberculosis drug rifampin, certain antibiotics including methenamine, the psoraisis medicine methotrexate, the HIV drug lamivudine, liver toxicity medications and folate antagonists.

Pregnancy

Both olive leaf and Bactrim may pose risks if you use them while you are pregnant. Bactrim is in pregnancy class C, which means there is a chance that the drug may harm your fetus if you use it during pregnancy but that potential benefits may outweigh potential risks. For drugs in this class, animal studies that have shown a risk to your fetus, or well-controlled studies in humans, are lacking. This drug does cross your placenta and is not recommended during breast-feeding, according to Drugs.com. There is no information as of 2011 on the safety of olive leaf during pregnancy or nursing, according to Drugs.com.